Autumn leaves blowing across the road is a scene that will soon pass as winter begins to envelop us.  Each year deciduous trees shed their leaves and leave them to the vagaries of the elements.  We are left with the task of sweeping them from our lawns, and either mulching them or finding another way to discard them.

I was recently entranced by the sight of these leaves blowing along the road: as one of those sights that we see but do not notice.  Its beauty, its unhurried movement, its carefree motion thumbing its nose at the rat-race driving past it.  Enjoying the journey rather than focussing on the destination. It came as an invitation and a reminder. The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit. (John 3:8)

So much emphasis is placed upon planning and organising and making good use of time that we forget the glorious invitation to the spontaneity of the Spirit.  How ignorant we can be of the artistic and creative energy available when we relax enough, when we let go of the demands of diary, when we allow unscheduled, unhurried, undirected time to be part of our life, part of our faith.

The wind has a habit of coming along just as you have raked all the leaves into one place, and spreading them around in glorious disarray.  So may it be with the wind of the Spirit amongst our plans.  Let the life of God be release afresh!